The First Step to Healing

We instinctually avoid our pain, setting it high on a shelf, out of sight, in hopes that it will miraculously disappear. We keep it at arm’s length; we circumvent, ignore and piously deny it. We treat pain as an unwelcome visitor and we shun its purpose for our lives.

Ironically, though, the first step to true, sustained healing is to embrace the pain, to touch it, feel it, explore it.

Counterintuitive as it may seem, befriending our pain gives us a unique and powerful perspective on its role in our journeys. We have to dare to understand it to be blessed with the courage to overcome it. When we bring light to the depths of the darkness, we are able to explore the shadows and face our fears.

So often, we don’t want to confront the pain we feel. We hide it, stow it and camouflage it, yet in doing this we miss the opportunity to bravely stand amid the pain and rise above it.

Take a leap of faith today and dare to acknowledge and embrace your pain, if only for a moment. Know that there is peace beyond the anguish, love beyond the fear and freedom beyond the trials that shackle you. Courageously leverage your understanding of the pain you feel to conquer the challenges you face.